RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29798, 14 April 1962, Page 20

RANDOM REMINDER

GOLDEN RULES We were telephoned the other day by a friend who had a friend who had received an Americans explanation of the game of cricket. It went like this: You have two sides, one out in the field, and the other in. Each man in the side that’s in goes out, and when he’s out, he comes in and the next man goes out until he’s out. When the side that is in is all out, the side that’s been out comes in, and the •ide that's been in

goes out and tries to get out the one that’s coming in. Sometimes you get men still in and not out when the side that’s in is finally out. When both sides have been in and out, including those not out, that’s the end of the game. This is not reproduced in the hope that some English masters may see fit to remove the punctuation and toss the whole lot at one of their classes, nor it is meant to further embarrass the whole race of cricketers who tend, because

of external pressures, to' be a little self-conscious about their game. It is only to show how simple cricket is, compared with Rugby football, where there are 37 major rules, with eight sub-sections to the one on scrummaging, and 16 sections on the notes to this particular rule, each of them divided into subclauses varying in number, a further note on the notes, and another sentence containing these words: . . irregularities not provided for ...” Who would like explaining all that lot to an American?